BRANNAVAN GNANALINGAM trawls the local music calendar to bring us the month’s best gigs. This February: The Ruby Suns, Explosions in the Sky w/ Eluvium, Interpol/The Dead C w/ Surf City, Sonic Youth w/ The Dead C, Broken Social Scene, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Ween, Chemical Brothers.


» The Ruby Suns, Fri Feb 8 @ Kings Arms (Akld)
The Ruby Suns have almost completed a small national tour to celebrate the release of their excellent new album Sea Lion, and are off to Europe and the US to promote their Sub Pop/Memphis Industries released album. With a sound reminiscent of Animal Collective, and success on alternative music charts, they and their album are well worth checking out.

» Explosions in the Sky w/ Eluvium, Mon Feb 11 @ Kings Arms (Akld) + Tues Feb 12 @ San Francisco Bathhouse (Wgtn)
Two diverse performances by one brilliant ambient artist and one intensely powerful band should sound like an interesting combo, and indeed, you’ll probably get dragged in all sorts of directions by both these performances. Explosions in the Sky are renowned for their incendiary live show in particular, boasting one of the best live reputations around.

» Interpol w/ Surf City, Thur Feb 14 @ Auckland Town Hall
One of the more popular indie bands of this decade return to New Zealand to play one show only. New York’s Interpol set the music world alight with Turn on the Bright Lights, and while the latest effort may not match that masterpiece, their trademark sound and interplay will translate well live.

» The Dead C w/ Surf City, Fri Feb 15 @ Dog Bollix (Akld)
You’ve probably missed out on seeing the sold out Sonic Youth show, so why not see one of New Zealand’s greatest bands (and personal friends of Sonic Youth) play their own side-show? Seeing the Dead C is a rather rare occurrence, and this doorsales-only show would be highly recommended.

» Sonic Youth w/ The Dead C, Sat Feb 16 @ Bruce Mason Centre (Akld)
This is kinda mean to include, but the show’s all sold out. It’s probably going to be amazing as well. Oh well.

» Broken Social Scene, Wed Feb 20 @ Kings Arms (Akld) + Thur Feb 21 @ San Francisco Bathhouse (Wgtn)
Few bands have inspired such intense love in recent times as Kevin Drew’s project Broken Social Scene, and he’s thrown together a killer cast of musicians to play down in New Zealand. He’ll be covering material from his excellent solo album released last year, and the brilliant Broken Social Scene material of the last number of years. Could be one of the gigs of the year.

» Fat Freddy’s Drop, Sat Feb 23 & Sun Feb 24 @ Music Mountain Matakana
Given that the first show on Saturday is virtually sold out, a second show has been added to Fat Freddy’s going-bush concerts with a wee Sunday afternoon picnic and matinee session. Of course for Fat Freddy fans, the chance to see the rarely performing band will probably be snapped up pretty quickly.

» Ween, Mon Feb 25 @ Powerstation (Akld) + Feb 26 @ San Francisco Bathhouse (Wgtn)
The Wellington show doesn’t have a lot of tickets left and the Auckland one is on its way too, so it’d be advised to get tickets to see the highly popular indie legends. Their live show has kept fans happy for years.

» Chemical Brothers, Thur Feb 28 @ The Vector Arena (Akld)
One of the most well-known electronic acts around since their popularity exploded in the mid 90s (partly helped by some of the best music videos around), their live show has always been held in huge regard. Anyone who witnessed their Big Day Out performance a couple of years back (not that most could fit in the packed Boiler Room) will attest to this.

Upcoming Gigs: The Main Divide (Pegasus Bay Winery), Cat Power, Okkervil River, Iron and Wine (unfortunately Wgtn has sold out; Akld’s previously sold out show has more tickets with a venue change to the Powerstation), Cheap as Chips (Chch with the Black Seeds, Sola Rosa, the Checks), WOMAD (New Plymouth), Beirut, Wilco, CSS & Glass Candy, The Smashing Pumpkins & Queens of the Stone Age, Duran Duran, The Mountain Goats.